Creepy, Crawly + Educational: Check out Colorado Bug Museum

In Colorado, places like the Denver Zoo, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and the Butterfly Pavillion serve as fun and educational settings for all ages to get up close with animals.

However, up in the mountains just outside of Colorado Springs sits a museum in which visitors can lay their eyes on thousands of real-life preserved specimens of insects, arachnids, and more that has served as a bit of a hidden gem for many years.

Colorado Bug Museum in the Mountains

The May Museum is located at 710 Rock Creek Canyon Road in Colorado Springs, but as you'll see upon searching this address, the local favorite is far from being "in" the Olympic City.

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Visitors are first greeted by Herkimer, a massive beetle sculpture that has been sitting outside of the museum since 1952.

Founded by self-made world traveler John May, the May Museum was originally filled with the thousands of insect and arachnid specimens he had amassed via trips all over the world.

Today, the May Museum is home to over 8,000 specimens of insects, arachnids, butterflies, and beetles and is a popular place for tourists, local field trips, and bug enthusiasts.

Inside you'll find butterfly specimens of all colors and sizes, as well as some tarantulas, scorpions, centipedes, and plenty of the aforementioned beetles.

Keep scrolling to take a virtual tour of this hidden gem between Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek high in the mountains known as the May Museum: